I used photoshop and saved as bmp (54 / 162).
Windows 7 Start Button Changer
The text just does not show up = (
Could the text be too small to show?
No, 54x162 is the perfect size.. Two very important points though (and I suspect this is where you're having trouble):
General Tip for Layers
When you create the image, make sure it is RGB with 8 colour bits per channel (16 and 32 also work, but makes the file larger), and work with as many layers as you need for different elements.
Probably the most important tip to make this easier is to make sure the button you want to use has the image with the rest of that layer transparent, not black. This will make things much easier for you.
Once you're done making the button look the way you want, flatten all layers
except the background, so you end up with two layers at the end (this is needed for the final step).
Alpha Transparency Layer
With your button layer (with completely transparent background) and background layer (completely black layer), you can now setup the alpha layer of your image. This is the layer that determines which areas of your image are transparent and which aren't when it is applied to your taskbar.
Hold
ctrl and click on the thumbnail of your button in the Layers panel, this will draw a selection around everything contained in that layer, and will take feathered edges into account (for smoother look). If you are satisfied that
only your button is inside the selection, then carry on to the next step, otherwise use your lasso tool to fine tune it.
Switch to the Channels tab (next to the Layers tab); here you should see four options:
RGB,
Red,
Green and
Blue. At the bottom of this panel, click the "Create new channel" button and you'll then see a new channel named "Alpha 1".
Select the "Alpha 1" channel and switch to the brush tool. Set the bruush size nice and large and paint into the selection area (which should still be selected from earlier) with
white. You'll notice a plain black and white image in the shape of your button. Finally, click the
RGB layer again and unselect the image.
If you did the last step correctly, your image should not look any diferent, but when you save it, the image will default to a
32bit BMP and not a
24bit BMP.
Hope that helps...
Edit: Perhaps I should create a tutorial for this with screen shots sometime...? I couldn't find one on SevenForums when I looked earlier.
I do not own or create this orbs. Credit goes to the original artist. 
Enjoy.
(have to spread some more before i can give to you).
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